Just picked up a 1930s Battery operated Coronado

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by vortalexfan

Is it normal for a tube powered battery radio like this to drain the "B" Battery supply so that it goes from supplying 90VDC to the radio's B+ Circuit to a little over 50VDC to the B+ Circuit in the radio (which makes the radio barely operable) in less than 2 months?

Two questions:

1. Approximately how many hours was the radio turned on during the two month time period ?

2. How much current does the radio draw when on and off ?

jr

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Two questions:

1. Approximately how many hours was the radio turned on during the two month time period ?

2. How much current does the radio draw when on and off ?

jr

To answer question one, I've only used the radio maybe 3 times at the most in the two months that I've had it, and I usually only run it for a couple of hours to listen to some of my favorite talk shows in the evening and listen to a couple of oldies stations near me that play period correct music on it.

As for question number two the Riders says the radio is rated for 500 mA current draw (including tube filiments) and the current draw I measured was pretty close to that (around 495 mA).

So I guess I just need to follow Dave's Advice (Diesel Jeep) and just disconnect the batteries when not in use.

[jr_tech]

I should have been more specific... since we are concerned about the life of the “B” battery, how much current is drawn from the “B” battery when the radio is on and when it is off ? (MEASURE) An alkaline 9 volt battery is rated at about 550 mA hours.

For example, doing the math, if the radio draws 25 mA from the “B” battery at moderate volume, the battery would be worn out in about 20 hours of playing.

Is this the same “B” pack that fell into the snow last winter?

jr

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

I should have been more specific... since we are concerned about the life of the “B” battery, how much current is drawn from the “B” battery when the radio is on and when it is off ? (MEASURE) An alkaline 9 volt battery is rated at about 550 mA hours.

For example, doing the math, if the radio draws 25 mA from the “B” battery at moderate volume, the battery would be worn out in about 20 hours of playing.

Is this the same “B” pack that fell into the snow last winter?

jr

Yes it is, but I've since then installed all new batteries, that I had bought from Ace Hardware, because they had their house brand batteries on sale, that was about 3 months ago.

But I'm hoping that when I dropped those previous batteries in the snow that I didn't short something out, which is entirely possible.